Youth unemployment falls by 9,000

The number of unemployed young people fell by 9,000 in the three months leading up to February 2012, Labour Market Statistics have shown.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has revealed there were 1.03 million unemployed 16 to 24 year-olds in the UK.

Excluding people in full time education, there were 719,000 unemployed 16 to 24 year-olds in the three months leading up to February 2012, down by 11,000 on the previous quarter.

However the ONS figures also show that the number of 16 to 24 year-olds in a job fell by 13,000 to 3.63 million.

The Labour Market Statistics show that the total number of unemployed people in the UK fell by 35,000 in the three months leading up to February 2012,, the first quarterly fall in unemployment since the three months leading up to May 2011.

Meanwhile there were more than 29 million people with a job aged 16 and above, an increase of 53,000 from the previous quarter.

(Read the Statistical Bulletin published by the Office for National Statistics here.)